Best Day Ever
by quillinkparchment
Summary: Six-year-old Eugene is enjoying himself at the carnival held in honour of the newborn princess's birth when he bumps, literally, into his future in-laws and meets his true love for the first time ever. RapunzelEugene - the very beginning. Oneshot.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Rapunzel, her parents, Eugene, Flynnigan Rider and the kingdom of Corona. I do, however, possibly own the butcher with the bloodstained shirt. Oh, and the cookie-seller. Haha.**

If anyone had been watching closely, they would have seen a small, dark-haired boy steal a couple of cookies from one of the stalls in square. But no one noticed him, for they only had eyes for their new princess, held aloft by the very proud king and queen of Corona on the wooden platform in the middle of the square, built for this happy occasion.

Eugene Fitzherbert shot out his fist and grabbed a couple of cookies, cramming them into his mouth while shooting covert looks at the shopkeeper. When he noticed that the shopkeeper had not even glanced at him, he took more and more, eventually emptying the entire platter into his pockets. This was the best day _ever_ for the six-year-old, and he had one person to thank for it – the baby princess who, impossible though it was, had been born with a head of the glossiest golden hair. It had been whispered throughout the kingdom that this might have been the effect of the queen drinking the potion that carried the essence of sun flower, for both the king and queen were dark-haired. But the people all loved their princess, golden-haired or not, and the local artists had been commissioned to create a huge mosaic picture of the royal trio. A carnival was being held in her honour in the square before the palace, and the children from the orphanage had been brought out to celebrate her birth. Eugene had snuck away when the guardian in charge of the children was busy trying to calm down one of the toddlers, and he was now wandering about the square and having the time of his life.

No one noticed the little boy navigating his way around the crowd; they were too busy cheering lustily for their future ruler. Eugene had to hop and skip nimbly to avoid being trodden on by enthusiastic Coronians who were stamping their feet. He didn't mind in the least – this was loads better than being in the orphanage. The only scintillating thing back there was the library full of books where Eugene spent most of his afternoons. He was at the moment hooked on a series of books depicting the exploits of a charming, handsome bandit named Flynnigan Rider. The rogue's life story was everything Eugene had ever dreamed of, complete with wonderfully illustrated pictures of the places Rider had visited: on tropical islands escaping from guards and crocodiles, running away from guards and lions up an active volcano… of course, not to mention running away from guards and tigers in a rainforest. Of course, in each scenario Rider ingeniously managed to make his escape. It was all rather repetitive, in truth, but six-year-olds are easily entertained, and for Eugene, a story of Flynnigan Rider could never go wrong.

"Hey, watch it, you just stepped on my toes!" a beefy man roared, jerking Eugene out of his daydreams of leading an exciting life. He looked up into the face that was half-covered by a bushy beard, frowning angrily at him. He looked down to see the man's shirt: white and covered with a dark reddish-brown stain that looked like… blood. And then he saw that there was a wooden handle sticking out from the man's trousers that just looked like the handle of a blade, and in the mind of the incredibly imaginative boy, the man before him was no doubt a murderer (though he was, in fact, a butcher - but that's probably the same thing to animal lover extremists).

"S – sorry!" he gasped, backing away rapidly and stepping on the toes of more disgruntled people – literally and figuratively – and inciting their reprimands.

"Quit shoving, you little twerp!"

"Ow! Watch it, kid!"

Eugene could not stumble away fast enough. He turned and ran, and at last burst out of the crowd, only to bump into another person. He fell down and looked up…

Right into the concerned faces of the king and queen. They had gotten off the platform, and were now walking around the square, letting their subjects coo over their daughter. And he had bumped right into the King! A hush fell over the crowd as they gathered around their rulers and the orphan.

"Are you all right?" the king asked, pulling the little boy up.

Eugene was speechless. He nodded dumbly while his mind whizzed. The King and Queen were before him! The richest and most powerful man and woman in the kingdom! Not to mention their newborn daughter. And the king had helped him up!

"Are you having a good day?" the queen asked kindly.

Eugene found his voice. "Yes, your Majesties," he said, and bowed deeply. When he looked up, the little blonde princess was peering over her mother's arms at him. Huge, round green eyes met dark brown ones, and for one moment the world seemed to stop.

Then the little girl broke into the widest, toothless smile and chuckled happily, waving her chubby hands at him.

"Oh, she likes you!" the queen said, laughing herself. She bent down, and the baby princess was now at Eugene's eye-level, gurgling and holding out her hands. "Would you like to carry her? She's quite light, don't you worry."

"M – me?" Eugene asked disbelievingly, but the queen was already holding out the baby princess to him. He held out his hands to receive her, and the princess, swathed in her purple blanket, was a warm bundle that settled contentedly in his arms.

"Just don't drop her now," the king cautioned.

"I won't, your Majesty," he said, looking at the little girl. She reached up and poked his cheek with one finger, and then grabbed a fistful of his hair. "Owww! Please don't do that, your Highness."

The little girl gave a delighted squeal and then poked a finger up her nose. Eugene thought it might have been the finger that she had used to poke his cheek earlier.

"Don't do that either," he said, and suddenly remembered that her parents were right before him, and that they probably wouldn't take kindly to him giving their daughter advice. "Er – unless you mean to clear your nostrils," he added hurriedly. "It's good to have a clean nose!"

The little princess looked at him and smiled contentedly, one small hand reaching out towards him. Eugene carefully, gently used his free hand and touched her palm, and all five, tiny fingers wrapped around his index finger with surprising strength. Then she yawned, and in seconds was fast asleep in his arms.

"Sleep tight, princess," he said quietly, as he returned her to her mother.

"Oh, she will," the queen said, smiling. "What's your name?"

"Eu – Eugene, your Majesty," he said, and then turned to the king. "I'm sorry I ran right into you, sir," he said timidly.

"No matter, Eugene, no harm was done," the king said warmly, ruffling the boy's hair. He turned to his wife and said, "We need to keep moving around, love."

The queen nodded and stood up, her daughter sleeping soundly in her arms. "Have a wonderful day, Eugene. It was nice meeting you."

"Have a good day, your Majesties!" he said, bowing again, and then watched, enraptured, as they walked away slowly, stopping occasionally to let the people of Corona fawn over the sleeping princess. He did not wrench his gaze from them until they were at last swallowed by the crowd.

That night, Eugene slipped back into the orphanage and sneaked past the guardian. He reached his bed just as the bedtime gong sounded, and was under the covers before the other boys had even entered the bedroom.

He lay there awake long after the candles had all been blown out, thinking about the day's events. He had run into the king, talked to the queen, and carried the princess, and to complete the day, he was now eating the leftover cookies in his pockets. Not a bad day at all. In fact, it was as close to perfect as it could get.

And, at that very moment, as he lay falling asleep on the scratchy sheets of his bed, Eugene Fitzherbert would not have traded places with anyone in the world.

Not even Flynnigan Rider.

**Author's Note: **I have technically sworn myself off writing fanfiction but I watched _Tangled_ for the second time and this time, I am totally head-over-heels in love with the newest Disney couple. I think I was suppressing my love the first time I watched it haha.

Anyway, this happened when he was six and she was a newborn, and I came up with the age difference because in the movie Rapunzel is almost eighteen and Eugene looked around twenty-four. I didn't name the king, queen and princess, cos the king and the queen had no talk time at all the movie and nothing was said about their names. I didn't name the princess because I'm pretty sure Rapunzel wasn't the name given to her by her parents. At least, I don't think so. Mother Gothel probably wouldn't have given her a name that would have let her be recognised by her subjects.

I hope that I wrote it okay and that you have enjoyed reading it, and I would love to get some feedback from you guys. :)


End file.
